trip out, v.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

trip out v.¹

1. to experience a hallucinogenic drug or a simulacrum thereof; cit. 1998 refers (poss. naively) to heroin; also fig. use.

1966		Sat. Eve. Post 239 44/1: On Los Angeles' Sunset Strip, in ‘the acid capital of the world,’ [...] students continue to trip out, in search of their souls, or enlightenment, or just ‘kicks’.
1971		Science News 17 Apr. 264: The worst bummer of all time was recorded by Robert Louis Stevenson. It seems that the good Dr. Jekyll tripped out on a mysterious powder and ended up as the nefarious Mr. Hyde.
1985		‘Thommo’ Dict. Aus. Swearing & Sex Sayings 131: TRIPPING OUT — To get high or hallucinate under the influence of euphoric drugs.
1985		G. Tate ‘Atomic Dog’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 33: Both the first and the second albums we did in one day, tripping out of our minds like a motherfucker.
1998		J. Hoskison Inside 64: [of heroin] My cellmates were tripping out in a world of their own.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 256: I’m sitting in there tripping out, but it ain’t too psychedelic.

2. in fig. or ext. uses of sense 1.

(a) to lose control, to leave normality.

1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 18: golden girl – The main chick; a fantastic fox that makes every guy trip out.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 31: The blood was just pourin’ out, and everybody just trippin’ out.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Oct.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 29: Trip out: To get crazy.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 158: The machine just tripped out.

(b) to strike one as funny, crazy, extraordinary or amazing.

1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 42: (it will) trip you out – To be informed of an amazing or sensational bit of delightful information.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 258: trip out 1. Have a good time.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 100: That first hit tripped me out on a lot of levels.
2001		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 11: TRIP – please. or make laugh: ‘That play was totally hilarious and completely TRIPPED me out.’.

1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 118: I start trippin’ out on death an’ what’s it all mean.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 155: It is the old French bunker [...] As superstitious as this guy is, I can just imagine the tripping out he does on that.

(d) to be amazed, delighted.

1976		Jenkins & Shrake Limo 149: ‘Like you can really trip out on a fifteen-footer [i.e. a wave]. It’s really radical’ .
1984		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 7: trip, trip out – to become extremely excited: He was tripping out when Jordan slamdunked the ball at the buzzer.
1993		K. Scott Monster (1994) 254: The following day we went to the Islamic Center [...] and I totally tripped out.
1998		Source Oct. 43: Maia Campbell . . . will trip out in G’s Trippin’.

(e) to feel confused.

1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 39: I’m tripping out. If we can have this truce now, why did we ever start shooting at each other?
2005		B. Coleman Rakim Told Me 48: MC Shan [...] would trip out because he was from the land of rap [i.e. New York] and everyone was paying attention to these so-called country bumpkins from Florida.

(f) to confuse, to render someone emotionally unstable, to perturb.

1989		(con. 1960s) M. Kingston Tripmaster Monkey 235: She was tripping him out as on drugs.
1991		W.T. Vollmann Whores for Gloria 91: That really tripped me out when somebody knocked on the door. He jumped off the bed and drew his gun.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 39: What really trips me out is I never see the sunlight in my dreams.